Tobacco hanger



A. NEWFIELD Dec. 14, 1937.

TOBACCO HANGER Filed Dec. 16, 1935 Patented Dec. 14, 1937 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to the class of devices employed for hangingtobacco for conditioning purposes to make it suitable for handling forsorting, grading, and other operations, and an object of my invention,among others, is the provision of a hanger that may be constructed at aminimum cost and that shall be extremely convenient and efiective in usefor the purposes hereinbefore set out.

One form of a hanger embodying my inven- 7 'tion and in the constructionand use of which 'the objects herein set out, as well as others, may beattained is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure l isan end view of my improved hanger shown as attached toa lath.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same.

Figure 3 is a top view. Figure 4 is an isometricperspective viewillustrating the manner of use of my improved hanger. i

During the preparation of tobacco for manufacturing purposes a veryimportant step in the process is the conditioning of the tobacco leavesby dampening them so that they may be readily handled for grading,sorting, and other operations. This dampening process is a veryimportant matter as it is essential that the leaves shall be evenlymoistened but not to an excessive degree, forif the leaves become toomoist they are thereby injured and decreased in value. I have developedan improved process for thus conditioning the leaves which forms thesubject matter of another invention. 7 When the leaves are hung in thesheds for curing purposes they are generally suspended upon cordsthreaded through the stems of the leaves, the opposite ends of the cordsbeing secured at or near opposite ends of a lath. When this tobacco istaken from the sheds the leaves on a single lath are pushed together atone end forming a bunch and this is called a hand. My improved processhereinbefore referred to contemplates the hanging of these hands oftobacco upon racks in such a manner that they may be conditioned in amost effective way. The hanger forming the subject matter of thisapplication is particularly adapted for use in connection with thisprocess as it enables the hands of tobacco to be easily and quicklyattached to laths from which they are suspended and with practically noliability to injury to the leaves, particularly while they are in atender condition before being moistened. It will be'understood, however,that my invention is not limited to use in connection with my improvedprocess as such hangers may be employed in any casewhere it is requiredto hang or suspend the tobacco for any particular purpose.

In the accompanying drawing my imposed hanger is shown as formed fromwire bent to shape and comprising a base and supporting 5 arms. Thisstructure is formed from a piece of wire doubled at its lengthwisecenter and bent to form an eye 5 to receive a screw'by means of whichthe hanger is fastened to the lath. From the eye the wire is bent toform branches 6 10 which diverge from the eye downwardly, these branchesand the eye constituting the base. From the lower ends of the branches 6the wire is bent outwardly at substantially right angles to saidbranches to form spring supporting arms 15 1 which terminate in loops 8at their outer ends, the loops being formed to protect the leaves whenthe stalk or stem is being thrust in between the spring arms.

A number of these hangers are secured to a 20 lath 9 and these laths areplaced with their opposite ends resting upon rails l0, and as shown inFig. 4 of the drawing, and in. order to hold the laths in uprightpositions the ends may be placed in notches ll formed in the rails. 25

It will be readily understood and appreciated that my improved hangerprovides means whereby the tobacco may be easily attached to the lathswith a minimum amount of effort and with little liability to injury andalso that such tobacco 30 may be removed from the laths in a speedy andexpeditious manner with little efiort in removing them for sorting,grading, or for other purposes.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes I havedescribed the principles of 35 operation of my invention, together withthe device which I now consider to represent the best embodimentthereof; but I desire to have it understood that the device shown isonly illustrative and that the invention may be carried out 40 by othermeans and applied to uses other than those above set out.

I claim:

A tobacco hanger formed from a piece of wire 45 doubled at substantiallyits lengthwise center and 'thereat shaped into a substantially closedeye constituting a firm seat extending substantially fully around theunder side of the head of a tially parallel relation to receive thestems of tobacco leaves.

ALBERT

